To keep, or not to keep, that is the question. Some argue that small change is useful for everyday expenses. Others see the tiny coins as a symbol of the fight against the disappearance of cash, which is on the rise with the digital revolution and contactless payment. The French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir fears that shopkeepers will "round up prices to the next unit", as was already the case during the changeover to the euro, or the reduction in VAT in the Horesca sector.
The anti-coin fraction is in favour of abandoning the copper change, in order to create more space in the wallet. At the end of 2017, one and two-cent pieces accounted for almost half of the coins issued in the eurozone.
Scrupulous economists also point out a paradox: In 2015, Ireland's central bank estimated the production cost of the one-cent coins at 1.65 cents, well above their face value. And finally, there are of course those who simply prefer digital money, which is much more convenient but also easier to keep track of than cash.
Just this week, the European Commission announced the launch of the evaluation on the use of these coins. The consultation will be open and accessible to citizens. It will be open for fifteen weeks. Then the commission will have to decide by the end of 2021, whether to "round cash payments to the nearest five cents". This, in turn, "could lead to the phasing out of the one and two-cent coins," the European Commission informs.
Several countries did not wait for the European Commission to act. Finland in 2002, the Netherlands in 2004, Belgium in 2014 and Ireland in 2015 have already rounded up cash payments to the nearest five cents.
And in Luxembourg? Last January, Minister of Finance Pierre Gramegna declared that he had "no intention" of removing these coins from circulation in Luxembourg and stated that the government does not share the position of other European countries that are considering, or have already decided, to ban the coins.
